


Loner

by Macx



Series: Denuo [89]
Category: Emergency!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Paranormal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-22
Updated: 2011-05-22
Packaged: 2017-10-19 17:10:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/203193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macx/pseuds/Macx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life changed for Johnny Gage after a fire. It changed profoundly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loner

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the Denuo AU that I've already uploaded completely on this site. Denuo deals with the paranormal and spans several fandoms. The character of Nandi is taken from the CSI fandom and is an OC. This story is a stand-alone without a prequel or sequel in the Emergency! fandom. It was a spur of the moment decision to write it after watching all complete seasons of the show while I was laid up with a bad leg.

 

The day that had changed his life had been a rather normal one. The shift had been almost boring, with just a few rescues, most of them minor injuries. A child with a broken arm, a car accident with a few bruises and high tempers because of the damage to the cars, a false alarm, one smoke inhalation in the kitchen from a burning stove. That was about it.

But then the alarm for a structure fire had come and Station 51 had gone out on the call. Johnny Gage and his partner Roy DeSoto had followed in the Squad. The structure fire had turned out to be a burning farm house outside LA. Everything had gone up in a blaze, horses running everywhere, people trying to save what they could of their belongings. Captain Stanley had called for another engine to come while Roy and Johnny had started on containing the fire.

That had been when the owner of the house had come up and told them someone was still missing, probably trapped in the fire. Janine Uhrig, a guest from out of town. No one had been able to find her after the farm owner had had a head count of everyone.

So they had gone in.

Wearing breathing masks, carrying oxygen tanks, Roy and Johnny had entered the burning building, looking for the missing woman.

They had split up to cover more ground since the house was huge and it was Johnny’s lucky day: he found trouble. Trouble in form of a dog that was trapped in the fire, beside itself with panic, and when he had tried to help it, he had been bitten for his trouble. A painful, bleeding bite into the wrist.

The dog had run, disappearing into the burning corridor. Johnny had made it outside, cradling his injured, hurting wrist, barely able to see clearly from the pain. His blood loss was enormous already. It must have bitten through the blood vessels.

Roy had found no sign of the woman, Janine. He had turned to Johnny immediately, treating the bite as best as possible, talking to Rampart, relaying information. Johnny had been barely conscious by the time they arrived at the hospital and they had pumped two units of blood into him.

He made it through, his hand was treated and he was left with no permanent handicap. At least nothing that concerned his scar.

Janine Uhrig was never found.

But a burned dog had been discovered not far from the exit, struck down by a falling timber.

 

 

Johnny Gage looked at the bustle of people filling the streets, mainly The Strip. He had been to Vegas back in then seventies once. That had been with his ‘girl-friend of the week’, as his friends at the station had always joked. It had been incredible back then and it was amazing still. Every year something new was added, be it a casino, hotel or attraction. Life was never boring here.

Pushing the sunglasses up his nose he started a leisurely walk down the Strip, amused at how much he recognized as if it had been yesterday. Thirty years had gone by. So much had changed. So much had changed in Johnny, and so little showed on the outside.

 

 

The bite had healed, but the injury had been permanent in a very special way. He had seen just what had bitten him three weeks later, throughout full moon. Gage hadn’t felt well for the whole week and he had taken some sick days when things really turned sour. As a paramedic he couldn’t risk being ill on the job. The dizziness had frightened him more than the nausea. He couldn’t get dizzy. He was a fireman paramedic and would have to treat people hanging from a building or tower if need arose.

So he was home and his condition grew worse. Until the day before full moon, when things changed forever. Literally.

John Gage had been bitten by a werewolf and had become one.

It had freaked him. It had scared him to death. And he would have lost himself, what little sanity had remained after the excruciatingly painful change, if not for the small blessing of his heritage. While being halfblood Indian had mostly been a curse in his child and teenage years, the myths and legends told him by his grandfather had helped now.

His life had been turned around.

And still he tried to live it.

At thirty-four he was looking at making Captain in a few years, the paramedics program had changed, there were even offers for him to train other paramedics, but the werewolf matter threw all that over board.

Johnny contacted his grandparents, talked to them at length and quite openly. It came as no surprise that his grandfather didn’t even question the facts, believed him, and a week later he was in LA.

 

 

Johnny stopped in front of the hotel and smiled. So this was his new home and work place. Cool. The building hadn’t been here in the seventies. Actually, this had been dry desert land at the time.

 _Wish I could share this_ , he thought, not for the first time in thirty years.

But he couldn’t.

He was in this alone.

 

 

His grandfather stayed for almost six months. In that time Johnny was trying desperately to uphold a normal life. No one knew about what had happened and he couldn’t really tell any of his friends. It wasn’t like they would believe him. Full moon was a hard time. Especially since it wasn’t the day of the full moon where he felt itchy and needed to change, but also the day before and after. He switched two night shifts with someone from B shift, so he could be at home for the change at night, and the days were spent trying to keep it together.

Roy knew something was off, but he didn’t press on. Johnny waved it all off, claiming that his grandfather’s visit was throwing him in such a loop. He had made up a story as to why the old man was here.

Everyone seemed to believe it.

His grandfather left just before Christmas, telling him that John was welcome in the reservation should he need a break. Johnny accepted it gratefully.

Roy made Captain the year after that. It left John with a new partner, the offer for the training position, or the possibility of quitting.

He took the training job.

That went well for two years. He had a handle on his werewolf changes, but he knew he was different from everyone now. Things were complicating.

Another three years down the road, complication was a mild word it. He might attribute his still youthful good looks with his heritage, but it grew old.  Werewolves aged almost not at all. He had a long future to look forward to.

Johnny had a decision to make.

He made it.

And he moved away.

First to the reservation. He lived there until the death of his grandfather eight years later. While he was welcome to stay, he couldn’t. And he had learned enough about the wolf inside him to walk among the ‘normal’ people once more. He knew never to stay too long, no more than ten years in a place. He learned about the existence of allies, of vampires, of magic-users and more. One vampire was a friend of his family and when they met the first time, Johnny was stunned to hear about what was lie and what was the truth about vampires. The vampire, a woman called Brittany Sikes, was surprised in turn to meet a werewolf for the very first time. Wolves were secretive and rare.

And vampires needed allies. Those people who helped the paranormal to hide the truth, who cleaned up after them, who let evidence disappear. Allies were far and few, but very much valued.

“I have a contact here in LA,” Brit told him one evening as they sat outside, watching the stars. “I never needed his help, but maybe you can look him up one day. I know allies are mostly for vampires, but magic-users need their aid now and then, too, so why not a werewolf?”

John shrugged. “Sure. But it’s not like I’m going back to LA any time soon.”

LA meant his old life. It meant his friends. He hadn’t seen Roy in ages. He wrote, he called, but he never went there in person. He looked like thirty. He couldn’t explain that. JoAnne sent him pictures of the kids. It made him want to curl up somewhere and cry.

He was missing out on life – and he had almost eternity to live it.

“It helps to know someone’s there, John. There’s no obligation to go and introduce yourself right now.”

So she had introduced them. Johnny nearly lost it at the revelation that Chester Kelly was an ally. He had left because there had been no one to talk to and one of his former colleagues and a friend would have been such a person. The very one who had played pranks on him, who was the ‘famous phantom of Station 51’, the one he enjoyed trading insults with. They had been good friends. When Chet had made engineer, he had transferred to Station 14 a year later. Now he was their Captain, had married a nice woman, had twin daughters...

That hurt, too. Johnny was a people person. He had loved Roy’s family. Now he was so alone, he sometimes wondered if what his grandfather had said wasn’t the only option: some people became the wolf.

But something still held him back. He wasn’t suicidal. And he had the tribe at the reservation.

 “I know that ‘you should have told me’ sounds stupid, but in a way you should,” Chet said.

“Yeah. Well…”

“Eight years, Johnny. Man…”

“I know,” he replied quietly.

Chet regarded him solemnly. He had changed a lot. Shorter hair, gone was the beard, graying temples.

“How have you been? Where have you been?”

“At the reservation. Getting a handle on this.” Johnny played with the soda can in his hand.

“When did it happen?”

“At the farm fire where the dog bit me.”

Chet nodded. “Werewolf.”

“Yeah. She died in that fire. She was the dog that was found later on. Burned.”

They talked. About so much. About everything. The change, the problems, Chet’s ally status, his life, the future.

It was freeing something in Johnny. He could catch up with what had happened in his old life, and he had someone to trust with the changes in him.

“I sometimes talk to Roy. He said you call and write, but you never visit.”

“How can I?” Johnny asked softly.

Chet nodded. “Marco moved to San Diego. Mike married and he’s still at 51. The Cap retired after an accident. Do you know what a success the paramedics program is today?”

He smiled. “Yeah. And it feels incredible to have been part of that.”

“All that new tech stuff. And the new training. Amazing,” Chet agreed.

 

Johnny still stayed in the reservation, but now he had someone else to talk to. It was an incredible freedom.

 

 

John walked into the hotel casino and had a first look around. People moved everywhere, heading toward the gaming tables, the food places or just gawked. Those were the normal tourists. He noticed the cameras and the security guys.

This was where he would work. The post as security chief had been open for a while and Johnny hadn’t had much hopes to get it, but the interview had gone well and he had liked it here. It felt good, right, like he belonged here. He hadn’t had that feeling in a long time.

 

 

He had traveled the country after his grandfather’s death, met all kinds of people, but werewolves were rare. Chet had told him that already. Wolves were loners by nature. Some didn’t even survive the first year after the change because family and friends, their support, broke away. They were different, a monster. Johnny had had support. He had survived.

He took jobs wherever he set up camp for more than a few days, worked whatever came along, and it was another kind of freedom. He kept in contact with Chet and his ally gave him a few names of other allies he knew in the area. He never looked them up because he didn’t need their help, but it was comforting to have the knowledge.

He went back to LA after a while. He sometimes came to visit Roy and JoAnne, but only as the wolf. He sat outside their home at night, wanting so much to talk to his best friend of long-gone times, but there was no way he could explain his looks to them. Those were the times he felt like ending it might be the best idea. John Gage wasn’t cut out to be a loner. He liked people. He helped people. But he could never stay too long.

With the turn of the millennium, he started something new. He moved to New York and joined the police department as an arson investigator. Ally work made it possible for him to have the correct papers. He was given the name of several allies to help him should he need it. His station was the 27th precinct,

It was New York where he heard about the Nexus for the very first time.

 

 

Johnny headed for reception. The woman at the desk looked at his letter, called someone and told him to wait a moment. He stepped aside and watched the bustle.

 

 

New York had been his starting point for a new life. It had taken Johnny that long to make a closure with his old one, on the other side of the country.

He needed to make a new start. He had to get a grip on his life. He had to make a difference again. He laid the groundwork in New York, then Chicago, and finally he moved to Las Vegas. He had a true background of police work, had even made it to lieutenant in Chicago until he had to move on again due to the not-aging problem. Here he had used the help of an ally.

Rumors had made it down the ally grapevine. The Nexus was something big, something new, something that connected all paranormals, not just the vampire communities. Johnny heard other wolves, of magic users, of vampires, all working together. Salt Lake was becoming a focal point, as was Las Vegas.

He kept himself in the loop until there was an opening. And he moved to Las Vegas.

 

 

“Mr. John Gage?”

Johnny turned and looked at a rather stunning woman. Dark-skinned, very smart dress, hair bound back, barely any jewelry.

“My name is Nandi Kidja-Kunene, the manager of the Shaman. Welcome to our hotel.”

Johnny shook her hand. It was a firm handshake, relaying a quiet power he had already felt about her. Nandi’s eyes narrowed a little and she seemed to look at him even more closely.

“Follow me,” she only said and turned around, walking toward the row of elevators.

Johnny felt a little mystified, but he followed. The elevator took them past the hotel level to the management floor. Nandi’s office was wide-spread, tastefully decorated, with a spectacular view of the Strip. Johnny felt himself relax unconsciously. Warm earthen colors, pictures of peaceful landscapes, and plants completed the picture. It was nice. More than nice. It was almost like someone had thrown a switch and he had left everything stressful behind.

“May I offer you a drink?” Nandi asked, drawing him out of his thoughts.

“Water,” he replied. “That’ll be fine.”

She handed him a bottle of local water, nothing fancy, it fit the whole atmosphere.

“I had hoped my assistant could be here today. You talked to him when you applied for the post.”

“Mr. Gospel,” Johnny agreed.

“Yes. He was needed elsewhere. This leaves it to me to show you around.” She smiled. “But before we start, I think we need to clear a matter that was brought to my attention just now.”

Johnny frowned. “Matter?”

“You, Mr. Gage, are a werewolf.”

Johnny knew he had that pole-axed look in his face and he realized he had stepped back from the woman. Fight or flight was immediately switched on and he felt his whole body prepare to defend himself.

Nandi only smiled, calmness in her whole demeanor. She approached.

“What are you talking about?” he managed, aware that he had moved back once more.

Something touched him, warm and gentle. It was like a caress and he was so tempted to give in, but the fear was too great at the moment. His grandfather had told him about the hunters. Chet had confirmed that they existed. Wolf hunters, like vampire hunters, chased their prey and killed it without remorse.

“I won’t hurt you, John,” Nandi said softly. “You are in a very safe place.”

Again, the gentle, insubstantial touch.

“Who are you?” he asked, voice tense.

“Have you heard of the Nexus?”

He stared at her.

“I take that as a yes. And I think I should introduce you to some friends, valuable friends.”

“Who are you?!” he demanded.

“I am a Shaman, John Gage.”

Now he was really staring. Gaping, too. Shamans were… legends. Myths. Chet had told him that they didn’t really exist, that he had never heard of anyone ever meeting a Shaman. That had been twenty years ago. Now…

“You don’t exist,” he blurted.

She smiled. It was that gentle, calming smile. “I do exist. Like werewolves exist. Like the Nexus exists.”

He was groping for any kind of sanity. “How?” John only mattered.

Nandi made an inviting gesture toward the rather comfortable looking couch. “Please sit down, John. I’ll answer all your questions.”

 

 

 

Nandi watched the young werewolf, smiling to herself. Well, not so young. He was older than Vin or Buck. But where those two had never been alone, Johnny had been. She could feel it. Maybe ally contact, but nothing more. A life on the run. Even a Phoenix had more social contacts than a werewolf, who was always looking over his shoulder.

He wasn’t trusting, he was absolutely wary, but she knew it was only a matter of time and of the right people. Vin would be ecstatic. The founder of the Nexus was always looking for werewolves, trying to bring them out of self-induced exile. Paul Cross, too. While the Mountie lived a loner’s life in the wilds of Canada, it was something that came with the job. He was in regular contact with Vin or Buck.

Since Johnny was now working for her, he would be quickly involved with other paranormals. His life would change.

She smiled more, her powers wrapping around Johnny like a security blanket, calming him without forcing him to be so.

 

* * *

 

Johnny walked through the huge casino, scanning for trouble, for foul play, for anything that needed his intervention. So far it had been a calm day. His team was actually complaining about boredom, though mostly as jokes.

He smiled to himself.

It was his anniversary now. One year of a steady job, of being able to be what he was. No need to come up with excuses twelve times a year – at least. On full moon days he still kept an eye on things, though now as a wolf. He looked a huge, black dog anyway.

Things had changed within those twelve months. Meeting Vin and Buck had been an eye-opener. Running with them in the desert had been like flying. It was when he thought of his grandfather’s words about wolves, how they were pack animals and even lone wolves suffered. Aside from them, and Paul Cross, there were no other wolves known to Vin Tanner. They were naturally wary.

He also got to know the vampire community of the gambling town. The connection to the CSI was astounding, too. It was a finely woven net which presented a huge security to him.

Johnny knew it had been the right choice to come here, the right choice to trust Nandi. He had called Chet in LA, letting his old friend know. Chet had sounded happy, relived actually. He still visited his friend now and then. His last ties to the past were important.

He knew that Chris DeSoto was now married and had children of his own. He lived in San Francisco. Jenny DeSoto was living together with her partner, an architect, in Chicago. Roy and JoAnne were still in LA. Johnny had lost contact to them and he mourned it every time Chet told him what was going on. He was still in LA, too. It was his home.

There had been the thirty year reunion of the Station and the ER team at Rampart, but Johnny hadn’t replied. He had let himself get lost. Chet had sent him pictures of it. It had been the first time Johnny had really cried.


End file.
